


if this feeling flows both ways

by babymochikawa



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boxing, Alternate Universe - Dance, Getting Together, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Porn With Plot, Strangers to Lovers, Unresolved Sexual Tension, boxer!iwaizumi, pole dance instructor!oikawa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:33:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28746993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babymochikawa/pseuds/babymochikawa
Summary: Rising star boxer Iwaizumi Hajime gets signed up for a pole dancing class by his manager, Daichi, to help him loosen up. He thinks it's a waste of time until he meets Oikawa Tooru, the handsome and oh-so-flexible dance instructor, and sparks fly.It's only a matter of time before the tension between them snaps, but which one will break first?
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	if this feeling flows both ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Goth_chan666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goth_chan666/gifts).



> based on a prompt from goth_chan666 that i thought was really cool. i hope you like it :)
> 
> i respect pole dancers so much but i've never done it so tell me if i got anything wrong. also thank you to my friend maya for beta'ing this for me.

With a sigh, Iwaizumi hoists the gym back further over his shoulder as his feet take him to the address Daichi gave him. He checks his manager's text one last time to make sure he's at the right place. This part of downtown Sendai is busy, and he has to move quickly to avoid bumping into any distracted pedestrians. _Studio 13,_ he thinks, repeating it over in his head. _Studio 13. Studio 13._

He takes a wrong turn into some sort of office building, but luckily the lady at the front desk there is helpful, pointing him back outside and instructing him to turn left at the intersection, which he does.

Studio 13 turns out to be a dance studio like any other with shiny wooden floors and mirrors on the front and back walls. Only unlike every other dance studio, there are five floor-to-ceiling poles arranged in an x-formation, four of them form the corners of a square while the fifth is in the middle. Iwaizumi nearly cringes just at the sight of them. He's only here because Daichi told him he needed to work on improving his flexibility and fluidity before his upcoming tournament. He doesn't know why he couldn't just sign up for yoga or something normal, but Daichi wouldn't relent no matter how much he objected so here he is.

Most of the students are already inside, and Iwaizumi hesitates briefly before he makes himself stand up straight and push the door open. Immediately all four heads swerve to him, but his attention is caught by one man in particular.

He's tall and slender, though most of his upper body is hidden by a baggy sweatshirt, and he's wearing a pair of leggings that perfectly accentuate his long legs. His wavy brown hair is held back by an elastic headband but a few locks still fall into his eyes. Not to mention his face, which is home to the prettiest brown eyes and fullest lips Iwaizumi has seen in his life.

The brunette steps forward, eyes scanning him up and down with an assessing glint. They linger on Iwaizumi's chest and biceps- or is the boxer just imagining things?- before trailing up to his face. "Hello there," he says. "You must be Iwaizumi, correct? The new student."

"That's me," Iwaizumi says gruffly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He feels awkward.

"I'm Oikawa Tooru, and I'll be your instructor for this course," says the brunette.

Iwaizumi shakes his hand, then Oikawa starts addressing all the students and instructs them to change into more appropriate clothing and get ready for class to start. Finding an open spot to the side Iwaizumi takes off his jacket and tennis shoes and stuffs them into his bag, leaving him in a plain t-shirt and pair of basketball shorts. Hopefully he didn't need any clothing that's too specific.

When he's done he zips up the bag and faces Oikawa's direction again to wait for further instruction, almost choking on his spit when he does. Without the sweatshirt in the way, Oikawa's wearing a bright pink cropped tee and his toned stomach and slim waist are on full display. Oikawa smirks almost like he knows what Iwaizumi is thinking, and the boxer quickly tells his thoughts to shut up. He doesn't even want to be here, he's only going to take a few classes and leave, calm down. Oikawa obviously knows how good he looks, and Iwaizumi is definitely not going to make his ego any bigger than it already is by confirming it.

Oikawa grabs a yoga mat from a stack of them in a corner and walks to the main studio floor. Iwaizumi and the three other students, all girls, do the same and follow him to the poles each taking one of the corner ones. Oikawa positions himself at the pole in the middle, grabbing it with both hands and looping himself into a small, graceful spin around it like it's the easiest thing in the world. _What a show-off,_ Iwaizumi thinks.

"Alright everyone, let's get started with some stretches," he says. The brunette unrolls the mat and lays it flat on the floor, everyone else follows along. He leads them in a series of basic stretches: toe-touches, downward dog, and the cobra pose. They stretch out their arms and legs and backs and by the end Iwaizumi is admittedly feeling a lot more limber than he was when they first started.

"It's important to stretch before and after to relax your muscles," Oikawa says. "Pole dancing requires a lot of flexibility and a lot of strength, you're at risk of straining a muscle if you don't stretch out properly."

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. He knows all this from the other sports he does already and besides, it can't be that hard to shimmy up and down a pole.

Oikawa notices his dismissive expression and huffs. "What, you don't believe me, Iwa-chan?"

" _Iwa-chan?"_ Iwaizumi asks. The other students laugh slightly.

Sticking his tongue out playfully Oikawa re-rolls his mat and puts it away. When he comes back he grabs onto the pole with both hands. "Alright, class, listen up. I'll go over the routine again for Iwa-chan here since he missed our first two classes, then we'll continue learning it where we left off." Oikawa meets Iwaizumi's eyes in the full-length mirror. "Iwa-chan, keep your eyes on me," he says, Iwaizumi couldn't look away if he wanted to.

The brunette's eyes flutter closed as he starts swaying to a beat only he can hear. He rolls his body against the pole, spinning around and hooking a leg around it before pulling into an elegant pirouette. From there he brings his legs up one after another in a fan kick. Iwaizumi stares not a little enviously at the fluid movement of his body. He watches as Oikawa sinks onto his knees and detaches from the pole launching into a floorwork routine made up of a sequence of controlled twirls and undulations. He gets to his feet again and runs at the pole, leaping onto it and crossing his ankles around it. With one hand grasping the pole and the other outstretched Oikawa spins around the pole and lets gravity pull him down until he's able to land back on solid ground with a delicate dismount.

The other students clap lightly but Iwaizumi can't do anything but stare. _Is this really the beginner class?_ he wonders

Oikawa catches him looking, the boxer realizing his mouth might be partially agape. Quickly he closes it and swallows nervously, and his face grows hot upon seeing Oikawa's smug smirk. "Not as easy as you thought?" he teases.

Iwaizumi scowls, eyeing the pole with renewed purpose. He's never backed down from a challenge before, and he's not going to start now just because some arrogant pretty boy can do some fancy spins.

"Try to follow along now," Oikawa teases.

Then his face grows serious and he launches into a more technical explanation. "I'm going to start from where we left off last week, Iwaizumi, follow along as well as you can. I'd like to keep you after class to go over what you missed." He waits for Iwaizumi to nod before continuing, "Now for the fan kick, you're going to want to keep your legs straight and your toes pointed- like this..."

Oikawa walks around the room to provide praise and critique as they practice the move. "Oh, looking good, Yukie. Try not to bend your knee, Kaori- yeah, like that," Iwaizumi hears him say. "Perfect as always, Kiyoko-chan."

Iwaizumi panics as the brunette gets closer to him. He tries, he really does, but his body won't cooperate in moving with the grace Oikawa seems to possess so naturally. He can heft himself off the ground okay- all those years of strength training paid off- but he always keeps his legs tucked too close to his body, they don't straighten properly and it ends up making him look like an awkward armadillo curled up around the pole. Oikawa laughs at him for it and he feels his ears heat up with embarrassment.

"Your body is going to naturally want to curl up for stability, Iwa-chan, don't worry. You just have to fight through it. Here, why don't you practice keeping your leg straight on the ground first? Then we'll add in the lifting. Like this." Oikawa assumes a pose reminiscent of a ballerina, straightening his leg and pointing his toe and kicking out to the side. "Practice moving like this first."

Iwaizumi nods and does as he says. Pleased Oikawa smiles and walks off.

The floor work goes better. The spins aren't hard, but Iwaizumi finds himself having trouble letting go of his self-consciousness and being able to roll his hips properly. He wants to stop moving entirely and groan out of frustration several times but pushes himself through it with grit teeth. The class is only an hour. He can get through this then go back to Daichi and tell him it didn't work and his ideas are stupid, and he never has to come back here again.

That's not the case though, Iwaizumi had forgotten about Oikawa's request to see him after class. When the hour- plus a ten minute break in the middle- is over, the girls thank Oikawa and wave goodbye. Two of them, one with reddish-brown hair and sleepy eyes and the other with light brown hair tied in a high ponytail, pack up together and make loud smalltalk. The third, a serious-looking girl with glasses, probably the aforementioned Kiyoko-chan, smiles at their antics. Outside, it's almost dark already which is normal considering it's already mid-October. Iwaizumi watches as the girls' silhouettes fade away into the darkening night, wishing he could leave along with them.

But no. Oikawa whistles, drawing Iwaizumi's attention back to him. "Yoo-hoo, over here," he says sounding amused. "Are we going to do this or not?"

"Let's get this over with," Iwaizumi grumbles.

Oikawa grins. "Alright, let's start from the beginning. This is just a basic body roll, you're going to want to roll your body against the pole like this, starting from your chest and then following through with your hips."

The brunette does exactly as he instructs, body moving in a slow, sensual line. Iwaizumi can't help but watch him despite the fact that he'd already demonstrated the same move in class just a few minutes ago. Somehow it seems more intimate now that it's just the two of them here and Iwaizumi feels the back of his neck get a little hot.

"Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asks with amusement in his voice. "Are you going to try or just stand there ogling me?"

Iwaizumi snaps out of it. "I was not ogling," he protests but Oikawa's smirk only widens. Internally Iwaizumi groans and scolds himself for being so obvious. Sure Oikawa is attractive, but that doesn't mean Iwaizumi needs to walk around with his interest in the other man written all over his face.

Grumbling he tries to copy what Oikawa had done but he feels too awkward. Instead of a smooth roll he ends up stiffly swaying forward and backward, blushing slightly to the sound of Oikawa's amused chuckle.

"You're too tense," the instructor chides. "Relax your shoulders, this will only look good if your muscles are loose enough."

Iwaizumi tries his best but no matter how much he tries to force his muscles to relax they don't seem to be able to do it. Oikawa tuts stepping away from the pole and standing behind Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi watches their reflections in the mirror as Oikawa rests his hands on his shoulders massaging them gently. "Is this okay?" he asks.

"Yeah," Iwaizumi says, it comes out slightly hoarse so he clears his throat and tries again. "Yeah, it's fine."

"You have so many knots," Oikawa says. Now that he has permission to do so, his motions get more forceful and he starts digging into Iwaizumi's muscles, working out the kinks from far too much stress.

Unwillingly Iwaizumi groans, unable to resist as he feels the tension melt away. Oikawa hums happily as he works, alternating between soft touches and rough squeezing. "How are you so good at this?" Iwaizumi asks.

"I'm a man of many talents, Iwa-chan," Oikawa says simply. "Stick around, and maybe I'll let you try and find out a few more."

With that his hands drop back to his sides. "Come on, let's try one more time," he says. "We can at least get this one move down before we leave."

"Sure." Iwaizumi steps up to the pole again. He grabs ahold of it and for the first time, instead of trying to force himself to follow the motions, takes his time appreciating the way the smooth metal fits in his hand. Taking a deep breath he does his best to emulate Oikawa's motions from earlier, rolling his shoulders and chest forward before undulating his body and ending with a small hip thrust.

Behind him he hears a delighted clap. "That's more like it," Oikawa cheers. "You still look a little awkward, but hey- we can't all be as good as I am."

Iwaizumi scowls at him. "You had to go and ruin it, didn't you?"

"Heh, I don't know what you're talking about." Oikawa hesitates before adding "Besides, it's kind of cute. The awkwardness."

"Oh." Iwaizumi clears his throat awkwardly, unsure how to respond.

Luckily Oikawa is great at filling awkward silences. "Alright, I guess that's enough for today. I wouldn't want to keep you too late, old man," he teases. He heads off the studio floor and starts getting ready to leave, pulling the hoodie back over his head. Looking outside reveals that it's completely dark save for a few yellow street lights, so Iwaizumi decides to do the same. He hates driving at night.

"So," Oikawa says as he packs. "You box?"

"Yeah," Iwaizumi confirms. "Wait, how did you know?"

"Saw it in your stance," Oikawa says shrugging. "You boxers have a pretty distinctive way of holding yourselves."

"Good eye," Iwaizumi says. He zips up his jacket and slips his shoes back on. "My manager signed me up for this class, said something about me needing to improve my flexibility before the Rookie King."

Iwaizumi is going to compete in the All-Japan Rookie King Tournament in a couple of months. It's the highest level tournament he's ever competed in, and he's going to take it as seriously as he can even though he still doesn't understand why Daichi decided to settle on pole dancing of all things.

"Rookie King?" Oikawa asks. "My, that sounds impressive, Iwa-chan."

"No big deal," Iwaizumi says brushing off the compliment. He feels weird about being praised when he hasn't achieved anything all that great yet. "You can tell me all about how impressive it is when I win."

That makes Oikawa let out a surprised laugh. "Confident, huh? I like it."

"What about you?" Iwaizumi asks. "How did you start... this?"

"Is it really that embarrassing just to say 'pole dancing?'" Oikawa asks good-naturedly causing Iwaizumi to blush and splutter.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Eh, don't worry about it, I'm just messing with you." Oikawa stands having finished packing up all his stuff. His bag is slung over his shoulder. "It's getting late, we should be heading out. I'll see you next time?"

"Yeah, see you," Iwaizumi says. He ends up leaving first, since he has to walk a few blocks to where his car is parked. Out of the corner of his eye as he leaves he watches Oikawa turn off the lights and lock up the studio with a strange look on his face.

Interesting. Iwaizumi is willing let it go for now if Oikawa doesn't want to talk about it, but he didn't miss the fact that the instructor had deflected his last question. Despite himself he's interested in finding out more. He feels his earlier resolve of attending one lesson and then asking Daichi to let him quit waver. One more class couldn't hurt, right?

With that decision made, he finally backs out of the parking spot and heads home, already looking forward to next week.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, no smut this chapter sadly but there will be some in the next one lol. leave a comment or kudos if you wanna.


End file.
